willemvanoranje

I'm in exactly the same position. Because others already have had acceptances from places I applied to my hopes aren't exactly rising either...

Haven't heard anything either.

If you are into human rights, why not go to Europe? It's what all the leftish people here are so into I don't know too much about that field, but LSE and UCL both have a program in it. Utrecht also has an english language master conflict studies and human rights. I am sure loads of other European schools have it too.

All I know is that one of my profs at Uni of WI, Madison, was a UNC graduate (John Hall). Not exactly the region you are looking for either I guess

I am not from Amsterdam but from a city about half an hour away, so I know it fairly well. What are you looking for in a city? I personally like Amsterdam. It's not too big yet still you feel like you are in a city. It's scenic and international and there is a lot going on. A cosmopolitan town would be a good way to describe it. I personally can't think of any other city of 700k citizens that has to offer the same in terms of entertainment, nightlife, culture, etc. From what I hear from foreign students that I know people are generally friendly and interested toward foreigners (unless you are the group of 5+ drunk and noisy British/American guys of course) It's not a typical student town in the sense that most evolves around students, but you will have enough options. It's also good that you go to UvA and not VU I think. Most of the buildings are more in the city center and it has more of a university atmosphere. If you have more questions you can send me a message as well

Well, there are some more places in a few side streets of Capitol, the big building at the end of state street. Apart from that there aren't really any clusters I would say, though individual places definitely. I don't want to be negative but if you are from NYC and you are already afraid now of going stir crazy then I wouldn't be surprised if you actually do. I went to Madison only one semester as a foreign exchange student and I had that experience a little. You will have a hard time finding trendy bars or places to get things like good sandwiches a la Carnegie Deli, John's Pizzeria, etc. You can get quite a lot of ethnic food but I can prepare a better pasta than the Italian restaurants there. The positive side about bars is that you can get very cheap booze, expect zip in terms of style though. And yeah, most people in Madison are really full of State Street and think it's truly amazing, so that might give you some perspective. I hope I don't sound too negative, it's not that bad of a place either, but the threat has been a little too positive imo so far.

@ Griffie, I am at ucu Which field of history are you applying to? Gonna do a master in NL?

I can't say I have been rejected, but I will also apply for the fall 2011 PhD cycle. I applied to three masters in the UK and got accepted to two and are still waiting for the third program, which is where I really want to go. Since I did my undergrad at a Dutch liberal arts college I have only three years of undergrad behind me, and thus not that many history courses. But the master should fix that. I have a few American programs in mind for the PhD, besides a few in the UK and NL. I think the master should boost my changes, if I had applied to a US grad school I would have had a hard time getting in. I will also do a research internship this summer at the Dutch Army's military history institute, so that will give me something for on my CV. From what I saw American schools are more into extra-curriculars, diversity, etc. so I will need some things. British schools only consider things that are of direct academic relevance to the program so that might work in my advantage.

Thanks for the advices. I looked at the UPenn and Ohio State programs just now and they seem quite good. UNC/Duke is also interesting, especially since you can take classes from both if you are in one of them. In any case it's good to know that there are more military history programs in the US than I thought. I prefer a school that gives considerable freedom in choosing the major, or already has a specific major program military history. My main interest is Southern African military history but most African History programs are not really into that, so going to a school that only allows regional specializations is not very attractive for me. I know Duke allows a major in military history and saw the same is true for Ohio. If it's too hard to fit my interests in a program then I might go to the UK for PhD as well. They have some good schools with faculty interested in military history, and US military history is not what I want to specialize in.

I was wondering if anyone is applying to, doing, or has done a program in military history and what your experiences are. I am a Dutch student from Utrecht and will do my military history master in the UK next year. I got into Glasgow but am still keeping my fingers crossed for King's College London. For PhD I am also thinking about American universities since I went on exchange to UW Madison for a semester and I like the level of education. Anyone doing something with military history here? I am personally mostly interested in 20th century military history, conventional conflicts like both World Wars but mostly guerrilla wars, especially in Southern Africa.